Google and Howard University Are Changing The Future Of Voice Technology With Project Elevate Black Voices

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September 20, 2023

By Candace McDuffie, The Root

The partnership, which will be revealed today at The Root Institute, is pivotal for the Black community.

The perspective of Black voices in technology is crucial to its innovation. (Krakenimages.com /Shutterstock))

On Wednesday (September 20), Google and Howard University will announce a dynamic partnership entitled Project Elevate Black Voices. The collaboration has one underlying principle: to make it easier for Black folks to use automatic speech recognition technology (ASR). In order to successfully use voice products, we frequently have to “code switch” to be understood.

Google’s own research confirmed that Black people’s experience with ASR is worse when compared to white users and is working diligently to change that. In conjunction with Howard, the tech company embarked on Project EBV which will assemble a premium African-American English (AAE) speech dataset. In addition, the renowned HBCU will be able to share the dataset while creating a blueprint for responsible data collection.

[…]

Project EBV’s Principle Investigator and Howard University Associate Professor Dr. Gloria Washington explains what this endeavor means to her on a personal level. “I am a Black woman and I’ve been fascinated in my research about how much Black women [experience] micro aggressions on a daily basis. The way that people communicate to each other impacts workplace communications and essentially everything else.

“I want to make sure that—from an academic perspective—we can utilize smarter technology that’ll help reduce this bias so that everyone can be their authentic selves.” She adds that the alignment of Howard and Google is a strategic one. “Google acknowledged that this data set collection of Black voices across the United States should be done by an entity that is going to uphold the ideals founding of African American English—Howard University was right at the forefront of that.”

Learn more about the cultural significance driving this endeavor.

Read about AAE’s recent Oxford Dictionary breakthrough.

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